Homily for 3d Sunday of Ordinary Time

Homily for the
3d Sunday of Ordinary Time

Jan. 25, 2026
Matt 4: 12-23
Villa Maria, Bronx
Our Lady of the Assumption, Bronx

The Triumph of Christianity
(Gustave Dore')

“The people who sit in darkness have seen a great light” (Matt 4: 16).

In our Lord’s time, Galilee had a large Gentile population of Greeks, Phoenicians, Syrians, and Romans in addition to the Israelite population.  St. Matthew singles out that population, referring to “Galilee of the Gentiles” as he adapts the quotation he takes from Isaiah (8:23—9:1), part of our 1st reading.

Strange, then, that the Jewish Messiah should emerge from that context rather than from Judea or even Jerusalem.  But Matthew sees God at work.  He sees Jesus fulfilling what Tevye calls “God’s vast eternal plan.”  So here, as in numerous other instances, Matthew cites the Hebrew Scriptures, the Old Testament, to explain or comment on Jesus’ life.  God has planned this all along.  God wills from the start that his Messiah redeem not only Israel but all the nations.

Matthew tipped his interpretive hand when he included in Jesus’ genealogy several Gentile women (1:1-6) and when he narrated the story of the magi (2:1-12).  Then he finishes his Gospel with the Lord’s command to “go and make disciples of all nations” (28:19).

The magi, those foreigners from the East, were led by a star, by an extraordinary light, to him who is the light of the world.  Now, as Jesus begins his ministry, the light bursts upon the world—for both Jew and Gentile:  “The people who sit in darkness have seen a great light; on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death light has arisen” (4:16).

The definitive darkness of humans created originally in God’s image—whether Jew or Gentile—is separation from eternal light, from God.  In the 2d Eucharistic Prayer we pray that God welcome everyone into the light of his face.  In the 4th Eucharistic Prayer, we give thanks to our “Father most holy” who dwells “in unapproachable light” (Preface) before asking to be granted a share in his glory “freed from the corruption of sin and death.”

Sin is the 1st form of darkness, and it leads to the dark grave.  Therefore Jesus begins his preaching with a summons to “repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (4:17).  The kingdom is present in him, light personified—“Light from light,” in the words of the Creed, “a light that shines in the dark, … the true light that enlightens everyone,” in the words of St. John’s prolog (1:4,9).

This true light will conquer the darkness in our hearts, forgiving our sins and remedying our separation from the eternal light.  Finally, he’ll conquer even death.  He’ll do this for all whom his apostles snag in their gospel nets (Matt 4:19).

Jesus’ ministry includes not only the verbal forgiveness of sins, but also what St. John calls “signs.”  His healing of disease and illness are visible, physical signs of the light he bestows on our souls.  His driving out demons is a sign of his power over the Prince of Darkness.  His nature miracles are signs that every form of darkness in our lives, even death, is subject to him.  Jesus “went around all of Galilee … curing every disease and illness” (4:23), casting out demons, salvaging a wedding disaster, walking on water, calming a storm, forgiving sins—all signs of the kingdom of light, of “unapproachable light” bursting into Galilee and into the whole world.

The “fishers of men” whom Jesus chose and continues to choose, preachers and practitioners of the Gospel, continue to bring his light into the world, the light of his truth and goodness.  So the Church preaches the Gospel and teaches the Gospel’s application to our lives in a world struggling against darkness.  Christians bring the light of healing, education, and mercy to the sick, the poor, the bereaved, the afflicted, the frightened, the oppressed, the hopeless.  We oppose every form of darkness—moral, spiritual, physical, and psychological—that the Prince of Darkness and his minions thrust upon us.  We work and we pray that the kingdom of heaven, eternal light, may reign in all parts of our lives.